


Light 'em up (I'm on fire)

by Introverted_theatre_kid



Category: Be More Chill - Iconis/Tracz
Genre: F/F, M/M, Rich set a fire
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-08
Updated: 2017-10-13
Packaged: 2019-01-10 12:00:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,824
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12298818
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Introverted_theatre_kid/pseuds/Introverted_theatre_kid
Summary: It was the night of the Halloween party and everyone was having a blast.That is, until an unfortunate turn of events occurred, causing the house to go up in flames.Rich didn't exactly mean for this to happen...and he certainly didn't expect for Jake's heart to be shattered.





	1. Fire

**Author's Note:**

> Richjake? Never heard of it

Rich sat in the corner of a random Room, staring at the mess he created. The flames had already burned everything in sight, he was absolutely terrified. Everything up to this point was a blur... all he remembered was screaming for Mountain Dew Red. The SQUIP shocking him to the point he had cried, and then it all went blank. Now this was it. Leaning up against a burning wall, in too much pain to move. The thing was, he was trapped. The ceiling had collapsed and caught his right leg while he was hiding and he couldn't move it for the life of him. He was going to die there... He had given up on yelling for someone to help him... every time he did, he started a coughing fit and it felt like his lungs were going to explode. Rich was convinced no one was coming at that point... he didn't deserve to be saved... he deserved to die...

Meanwhile, Jake's emotions were a whirlwind; everything had happened so quickly, and all he knew was one minute he was drinking kegs with a few of his buddies and the next he was engulfed in flames. Everyone was able to find the exit quickly, but he had ignored the exit once he heard his best friend calling for help. Jake immediately knew where he was; the guest room. With his chest heaving and his body aching, he quickly ran up the stairs and entered the guest room. "Rich!" He called out in a hoarse voice, eyes widening when he saw his friend caught under a piece of wood. "J-Jake?!" Rich asked, his vision was hazy due to the smoke, but he felt a tad bit of hope rise in his chest once he saw the tall male. With all the strength he could muster, Jake picked the wood up, throwing it away from Rich. "Dude, shit, let's get out of here!" He practically screamed, causing rich to nod, pulling himself up, before collapsing. "F-fuck!" He stuttered, hearing a crash, looking up as another piece of rubble fell off the ceiling and crashed onto Jake, pinning his legs. A loud scream escaped his mouth as he began to panic. 

"Jake!!!" Rich cried, dragging himself towards the taller male as he coughed loudly, clutching his chest in pain. "J-Jake... a-are you okay???" He asked, his voice hoarse and breaths shallow, you could see the tear stains on his ash-covered cheeks. Jake squeezed his eyes shut, coughing violently until he was able to speak again. "I-I heard you yelling for help!" He said loudly, trying to tug his legs out from under the debris. "I needed to get you out!" He looked up, seeing the ceiling was close to collapsing again, Rich stared up at it, not moving as Jake continued to yell. "Dude, get out of here! I can get out by myself, just leave before you get even more injured!" he practically demanded, motioning towards the stairs, still trying to tug his legs out with no avail. "N-no! I-I'm not leaving w-without you!" Rich retorted, still staring up at the ceiling. "I-I'm not letting y-you die I-in this m-mess I've created..."

Jake smiled gently at him. "I appreciate the sentiment, but seriously, get out!" He took a deep breath, which caused even more coughing as more and more pieces of the ceiling fell down, barely avoiding them. Rich flinched as a bit of the debris scratched at his already burning arms. "Listen, I can't move my legs...They're probably broken. Just- get out of here and call the fire station! I promise I'll be fine!" Rich shook his head quickly, making Jake frown at him.  
"I-I can't m-move... and even if I could, I-I can't leave you!" The short boy whispered, before coughing loudly, his chest heaving, begging for fresh air.

Jake tried to move the wood off his legs, with no success, and looked at Rich, who stared back at him. He was about to speak again when suddenly he heard the sound of an ambulance over the roar of the fire, and his eyes widened. The smaller one heard it too. "Dude- I think someone already calle-" He was cut off with the floor collapsing under them, causing them to fall onto the first floor and the wood to move off of Jake's legs. But it was no use; he couldn't move them. Rich was collapsed on his back. The fall knocking the wind out of him. As if it wasn't hard enough for him to breathe. He heard the door slam open as more of the ceiling around them fell, and Jake was coughing up blood at this point, a small pool of it near his head. "Over here!" He screamed as loudly as he could to the fireman, which wasn't very loud, but with rich's help, the two got the attention of the firemen. 

Suddenly everything was silent; the fire was still roaring, and Jake could still feel the searing pain in his chest and legs, and he could see the firemen running into the room with a hose, but everything was silent. Then a sharp ringing was echoing in his ears, and just as soon as it started, the silence ended. The sudden wave of sound was disgustingly painful to Jake, and he felt himself break down into sobs, burying his face in the ashy ground as the fire was hosed down around them, he could just faintly hear his name being called. "J-jake..." Rich muttered quietly, every breath was harder and harder to take. He reached out for Jake, who just stared at him. He had tears rolling down his cheeks. The searing pain and a rather large gash on rich's chest made it almost impossible for him to stay awake. It soaked through his shirt as the blood pooled around him. "J-Jake..." he whimpered again, desperate for the other to hear him.

The look of pure pain and terror on Rich's face made Jake hurt more than any injuries could have. He barely noticed as the fire was put out, and they were now being lifted up onto stretchers, the pain causing Jake's vision to go in and out. "M-Make sure Rich stays alive, please..." He said to the fireman, who just gave a solemn nod. Jake closed his eyes, trying to distract himself from the awful pain in his legs. "P-please I-I need J-Jake!" Rich yelled, his voice cracking, making Jake look over to him. "H-help h-him..." he wished. His chest still burning. "P-please..." rich was fading in and out of consciousness and as they brought him out of the building, Rich's gasps for air where terrifying. "Rich, I-I'm fine, it's okay..." Jake insisted, although he was lying and he felt himself on the brink of passing out, when he started coughing again once outside the building. Rich's chest was aching and he couldn't seem to get any air in. The pain was so intense that he didn't care about the people standing a good distance away from the house, staring and whispering as he was wheezing.

Being checked by several paramedics, Brooke and Chloe sat in the grass, clinging to each other as if their lives depended on it. It looked like they were sobbing. Christine was holding on to Zoe. Price and Mckinley were sitting silently, Veronica and JD looked like they were... roasting marshmallows...   
But who stood out the most was Jeremy. He was looking around frantically, as if he was trying to find someone... Jake didn't know who. A few other guests to the party were sitting around, staring at Rich and Jake from afar. Thankfully, it looked like everyone invited to the Halloween party was out of the house, and safe.

"J-Jake..." rich cried, reaching out for him. "I... I love you..." he whispered just as he finally slipped out of consciousness. "What?" Jake had heard Rich call his name, but he didn't hear the next part. "Rich, what did you say?" He called out, trying to squirm his way out of his laying position. The fireman told him that if he moved his injuries would worsen, but Jake didn't care. Rich was out cold. The pain overwhelming his aching body. Jake managed to turn onto his side and saw Rich's closed eyes, and he let out a loud mix of sobs and coughs. "Rich!" He screamed, reaching his hand out. "No, Rich! Fuck, please, you have to let me see him! I-is he dead?!" Jake had seen the nasty wound on his chest, but the thought of losing Rich was too much for him. "RICH, PLEASE ANSWER ME!" He was basically screeching at this point, when he finally gave up and lay on the stretcher, sobbing quietly into his hands as the paramedics tried to reassure Jake that Rich was still breathing, (but barely) His shirt was soaked in blood, as he lay there limp. He looked dead. A few mixed yells were heard from the guests, a few clearly terrified for the health of the young boy who was put into an ambulance. The doors closed, and they brought rich to the hospital.   
Jake was placed in a different ambulance, where he honestly didn't care if he died there or not. He just needed Rich to be saved. "Please, I don't care about myself, please don't let Rich die." He said, looking up at the doctors who were leaning over his stretcher. They nodded, and Jake let his eyes close as he tried to calm the ongoing tears streaming down his face.

"Make sure he's safe" he muttered, right before slipping into unconsciousness.


	2. Recovery

It took roughly a week of laying half dead in a hospital bed before rich woke up. He was in so much pain it was blinding. His eyes slowly adjusted before he looked around, seeing the white walls of the hospital room, confused at first as to where he was, before his eyes widened. He could hear a heart monitor beeping behind him. He turned to a nurse who was standing in the room. "H-hey!!! M-ma'am? P-please!! J-Jake! Jacob d-Dillinger!! I-is he okay?!" He begged, his voice hoarse and his chest still in so much pain it was hard to breathe, and he could hardly see. The nurse, which had been looking over some paperwork, looked over to Rich as he woke up. "Hello, Richard...Your friend, Jake? Oh, don't worry. he's okay. I think he is sleeping at the moment, but he's healing up okay" He relaxed, hearing Jake was okay. Thank god Jake was okay... that's all that mattered to him. He'd rather get himself killed than Jake. "How do you feel?" The nurse asked in a sweet tone, placing her clipboard down. "I-I'm okay... I-it really hurts to breathe, and it's hard to see..." Rich said, before coughing weakly.

The nurse nodded. "You're going to have to be hooked up to Oxygen for a short while until your lungs to heal... and have some medication for you to take, to help your chest wound, and for the pain. you're also going to need to wear glasses for a fair amount of time. As for the medicine, Would you like liquid or pill?" She asked, turning around and pulling out two bottles of medicine. He flinched when he heard her say 'pill'. Never again. "L-liquid... p-please..." he said, laughing nervously.   
"Alright, it's bubblegum flavor so it shouldn't be too awful." The nurse smiled warmly and handed him the little cup filled with a light purple-ish liquid. "You need to take all of it." She proceeded to hand him a Dixie Cup of water for washing down the medicine. "And here are your glasses. These were specially made for you. So you should see perfectly with them on" rich nodded, taking the glasses and sliding them onto his face.

"After you take your medication and if you feel up to it, I can help escort you to see your friend... but you're going to have to be extremely careful..." she informed him as he took the medicine. It hurt when he swallowed, but he pulled through it. "T-thank you..." he said gratefully. "A-and yes please... I-I need to see h-him..." "Of course, dear..." She said, moving to Rich's side. "We can either put you in a wheelchair, or you can try walking if you feel strong enough. We don't want you to push your limits, though, since your wounds are still healing, and your breathing is out of whack. so if you don't feel up to walking you don't have to by any means.." Rich thought for a moment. "T-the wheelchair..." he muttered, clearly embarrassed. "I just need to see J-Jake..." The nurse nodded and left the room for a moment, then returned with a wheelchair. She helped Rich into it, and once he was situated she began to push him down the hall.

Once they entered Jake's room he was on the bed, legs suspended in the air with casts on them. His eyebrows were knit tightly as he was asleep, his body moving slightly as he dreamed. "He's woken up before, but today he seems...more exhausted than usual. You can stay here until she wakes up."  
Rich nodded his head. "T-thank you..." he said quietly. He pushed his own wheelchair to the side of the bed, staring at Jake, before tears began to fall. "I-I'm so f-fucking sorry j-Jake" he cried quietly. His quiet sobs made his chest burn, but he just couldn't stop crying. "I... I'm so stupid..."

Jake shifted slightly more until his eyes eventually drifted open slowly, and seeing Rich made him smile gently. "Hey dude..." He said in a raspy voice. "Y'know, crying isn't a very good greeting." He said with a tiny chuckle, which caused him to cough a couple times. Rich looked up, a weak smile appearing on his face as he wiped the tears with one of his bandaged arms. "J-Jake..." he said quietly, at a slight loss of words, before putting his head down. "I-I'm so fucking s-sorry..."  
Jake shook his head, and he groaned quietly from the soreness of it. "It's okay, dude...You don't need to apologize.." He said, his lips turned into a tired smile. "I'm just...really, really relieved you're okay.." rich chuckled weakly, upset. "I-I nearly k-killed you, Jake" he muttered in a hoarse voice. "A-and I b-burnt down your house... h-how the hell c-can you be h-happy to s-see me?" He asked, slightly terrified of the response. "Because you're my best friend..." Jake said softly, coughing a few more times. "And even though it was dangerous and kind of terrifying, I'm not going to put the blame on you..."

Rich shook his head. "y-you shouldn't have s-saved me... you should've l-left me in the f-fire..." he muttered, holding his chest. "I-I should be d-dead..." the males lisp was very prominent as he spoke. "Hey." Jake retorted in a stern tone. "Don't you dare say that. You are worth living, and I'm not going to stan-...sit here and hear you talk about yourself that way. You deserved to leave that house just as much as anyone else."  
Rich felt a pang of guilt in his chest. "I-I just d-don't understand why..." he whimpered. "If you didn't... y-you'd be f-fine... y-you're in this d-damn mess because of me..."

"People make mistakes, Rich, and just the fact that you feel bad is apology enough for me...Besides, I was planning on leaving that house anyways." He coughed a few more times, covering his mouth with the crook of his elbow. "So you kind of did me a favor...Besides, it's not like I have any parents that'll care." Rich still felt horrible for burning down the house either way. "G-god my dads going to k-kill me..." he muttered to himself, the sudden realization of going back to his fathers home terrified him. "W-where are you g-going to live t-then?" He asked.

Jake took a minute to think. "Honestly...? I have no idea." He laughed quietly, however it was a sad and forced laugh. "I'll figure it out, though, don't worry about it man...Also, tell your dad I set the fire. I don't want you getting into trouble." Rich shook his head. "I'm going to get in trouble either way... I did something stupid before and my dad basically... he kicked me out... i-I've just been sneaking back in so I can sleep..." he chuckled nervously, before coughing loudly, taking deep breaths afterwards.

Jake frowned slightly, concern in his eyes. "You should tell someone...I'm sure you can find a safe place to stay for the time being." He said, closing his eyes again. "M-maybe we could l-look for a place t-together..." Rich asked, scratched the back of his neck, realizing what he said. "I-if you want o-of course!!!" This caused Jake to look at Rich and smile, this time more genuine. "You know, that would be really nice..." He was quiet for a moment, then spoke again. "Uh...after we were dragged out of the house, you said something then passed out. What did you say? Cause I couldn't hear..."

Rich's eyes widened slightly as his face began to turn bright red at the question. "U-uh... nothing!" He said in slight panic. Shit he didn't think Jake would remember or hear him say that.   
Jake's eyebrows furrowed slightly, but he shrugged it off. "Huh, maybe I imagined it, then..." He said softly, looking back up. "What did you say to your dad for him to kick you out?" "I came out" rich muttered, looking down at his feet. "What did you tell him?" Jake asked, slightly curious to the situation. "I said 'Hey dad, I'm Bi. I like girls and guys don't hate me' and he yelled because 'you can't like guys what the fuck' or something along those lines. It's really fuzzy considering he punched me and told me to get the fuck out of his house" Jake scowled at Rich's response. "What the hell dude that's awful" The short male just shrugged. They were quiet until the nurse entered and Jake grinned. "Yo, Heidi!" He looked over to Rich. "This is Heidi, my nurse. She's basically an angel." He was laughing as she walked over with a pill for him to take as well as a small cup of water.   
Richs face was still bright red as he waved at the nurse. He lowkey felt like an idiot and a coward. Goddamn it why couldn't he just tell Jake he liked him?? He sighed weakly, fiddling with one of the bandages on his hand.

Once the nurse left and Jake said bye to her, shooting her a couple finger guns, he looked over to Rich. "How you holding up, man? Do `you...feel okay? Like, physically?" He asked, eyeing Rich who shrugged his shoulders. "Y-yeah I guess... m-my chest just feels like it's on f-fire... b-but it's f-fine..." he said quietly, looking up at Jake as he nodded. "Yup, I know the feeling." He laughed softly, staring up to the ceiling of the room. "You know...I honestly wouldn't have minded dying in that fire..." He said softly, making Rich's eyes widen. "It would have been an easy escape, after all, you know?"

"W-what?? N-no! My life w-would be twenty times more miserable if you d-died in that fire!" He said, surprised that Jake thought that. Jake closed his eyes. "I dunno..." He said softly, then groaned loudly. "Dude if you died, I would probably die... you're my best friend... life would be shit without you..." Jake looked over to him. "You'd survive." He looked around the room, then back at Rich. "I honestly wouldn't... you're one of the only people who's been able to tolerate my existence without wanting me dead..." Jake went quiet. He tried to change the subject.

"You know, those fire scars look pretty badass." He said, regarding his arms. "Like, seriously, they look really cool."  
This caused rich to look down at his arms, slightly self conscious. "R-really? T-they hurt like hell..." he said quietly, but he smiled weakly. Jake nodded his head. "Yeah, they're really cool." Jake replied, still smiling. "I bet that in a couple years, once they start to fade, they'll be even more badass looking." He exhaled with a few small coughs, then looked at his legs. "Honestly, the only part of this I'm kind of upset about is the fact that I won't be able to play basketball for a bit. But hey, I'll heal."

Rich smiled weakly, blush on his face. "T-thanks... a-and hey, you'll have an epic comeback from your injury... as for me... I doubt anyone will look at me the same way again..." he said flinching at his own thoughts. Wincing in pain as he coughed, his chest on fire.   
"Oh, I doubt it..." Jake responded, waving his hand slightly. "You know how teenagers are; even if they are mean or whatever, you shouldn't pay any mind to them." Rich shrugged his shoulders. "You'll still be the cool guy that everyone l-loves... I'll just be... rich, the guy who burnt down a fucking house..." he looked at his feet. "Nah, without sports I'm nothing dude.." He said, looking at his friend with soft eyes. Rich shook his head slowly. "Everyone will still love you, Jake... you've always been loved... I honestly don't think they will change... I mean... who wouldn't love you??" rich looked right back, nervousness clear in his eyes as they locked with Jakes.  
"My parents..." Jake muttered quietly, almost to the point where he didn't hear it himself, then shook his head. "You're parents are assholes, Jake" rich muttered, staring at his best friend.

"It doesn't matter. I'm gonna stay by your side, dude, whether you want me to or not." He said, smirking at rich, who coughed again, the oxygen he had connected was helping somewhat, but Rich was still wheezing for air. "Hey, Heidi? Is he okay?" Jake asked, the blonde woman coming back in the room and going up to rich. "Richard, I think it's best you go back to your own room... I feel like traveling was a bit to much for you to handle. Heidi called the other nurse in, and she swept rich away quickly. "B-bye!" Jake yelled, and Rich only waved. "What happened? Why did he have that... thing?" "The tubes connected to him? It's to help him breathe. You see, after all the smoke he had breathed in, really messed up his left lung to the point it had partly collapsed" Jakes eyes widened, fear growing inside of him. "Wait does that mean he's going to-" "we... we're not sure, Jake. he's young enough for it to heal, but it's only a matter of time..." Jake looked at his hands, they were shaking aggressively as his heart raced. "N-no... Rich can't die!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> don't hate me


End file.
